Division of the Arts News by Date
December 2018
12-02-2018
New Annandale House, the two-story multipurpose media studio that houses the Center for Experimental Humanities at Bard College, has won a 2018 New York Design Gold Award from DRIVENxDESIGN, which represents 75,000 members, 5,000 brands, and 1,500 studios, and celebrates the role of design in enriching the human experience.
Located at the intersection of Woods Avenue and Annandale Road near the center of Bard’s main campus, New Annandale House is a 945-square-foot building made of four 40-by-8-foot Corten steel shipping containers, originally manufactured in Hong Kong in 2003. The building, installed in 2017, was designed by Maziar Behrooz of MB Architecture in Manhattan and fabricated by SnapSpace Solutions in Brewer, Maine. The ends of the containers were transformed into 8-by-8-foot glass walls. The main floor is a double-height space with an adjoining 20-by-8-foot space. Designed with versatility and flow in mind, the main classroom becomes an indoor/outdoor space with a 16-foot garage door opening onto an adjacent outdoor gathering space on the south side.
“This beautiful building has been an inspirational home for the work we do at the Center for Experimental Humanities,” says Maria Sachiko Cecire, assistant professor of literature and coordinator of experimental humanities at Bard. “It echoes our own values in its flexibility, foundations in social consciousness, and balance of the classic and cutting-edge. We have loved experimenting with its many possibilities as we’ve used it for digital workshops, interdisciplinary student presentations, VR demos, musical performances, art installations, miniconferences, a space for public-facing local history research, and more.”
An advisory panel praised New Annandale House as an exemplary project in DRIVENxDESIGN’s Public and Institutional category, which celebrates the process of planning, designing, and constructing form and space that reflect functional, technical, social, and aesthetic considerations.
Center for Experimental Humanities at Bard College
How does technology mediate what it means to be human? The Experimental Humanities (EH) concentration is Bard’s liberal arts–driven answer to the digital humanities. Digital humanities is an evolving field that typically employs digital tools and research methods to investigate humanities subjects. In addition, EH engages with media and technology forms from across historical periods, combining experimental research methods with critical thinking about how such forms function as a part of cultural, social, and political inquiry. We encourage the reconsideration of older media in light of today’s technologies and look ahead to the developments on the horizon. The Center for Experimental Humanities at New Annandale House hosts regular EH events, workshops, and meetings for EH projects and courses. Members of the Bard community can also apply to reserve the downstairs space for other activities, especially those that share EH’s interests in how technology and media intersect with the arts, humanities, and culture. eh.bard.edu
For more information: drivenxdesign.com/NYC18/project.asp?ID=17813
Located at the intersection of Woods Avenue and Annandale Road near the center of Bard’s main campus, New Annandale House is a 945-square-foot building made of four 40-by-8-foot Corten steel shipping containers, originally manufactured in Hong Kong in 2003. The building, installed in 2017, was designed by Maziar Behrooz of MB Architecture in Manhattan and fabricated by SnapSpace Solutions in Brewer, Maine. The ends of the containers were transformed into 8-by-8-foot glass walls. The main floor is a double-height space with an adjoining 20-by-8-foot space. Designed with versatility and flow in mind, the main classroom becomes an indoor/outdoor space with a 16-foot garage door opening onto an adjacent outdoor gathering space on the south side.

New Annandale House, with garage door open to the outside. Photo: (c) MB Architecture.
“This beautiful building has been an inspirational home for the work we do at the Center for Experimental Humanities,” says Maria Sachiko Cecire, assistant professor of literature and coordinator of experimental humanities at Bard. “It echoes our own values in its flexibility, foundations in social consciousness, and balance of the classic and cutting-edge. We have loved experimenting with its many possibilities as we’ve used it for digital workshops, interdisciplinary student presentations, VR demos, musical performances, art installations, miniconferences, a space for public-facing local history research, and more.”
An advisory panel praised New Annandale House as an exemplary project in DRIVENxDESIGN’s Public and Institutional category, which celebrates the process of planning, designing, and constructing form and space that reflect functional, technical, social, and aesthetic considerations.

Interior of New Annandale House. Photo: (c) MB Architecture.
Center for Experimental Humanities at Bard College
How does technology mediate what it means to be human? The Experimental Humanities (EH) concentration is Bard’s liberal arts–driven answer to the digital humanities. Digital humanities is an evolving field that typically employs digital tools and research methods to investigate humanities subjects. In addition, EH engages with media and technology forms from across historical periods, combining experimental research methods with critical thinking about how such forms function as a part of cultural, social, and political inquiry. We encourage the reconsideration of older media in light of today’s technologies and look ahead to the developments on the horizon. The Center for Experimental Humanities at New Annandale House hosts regular EH events, workshops, and meetings for EH projects and courses. Members of the Bard community can also apply to reserve the downstairs space for other activities, especially those that share EH’s interests in how technology and media intersect with the arts, humanities, and culture. eh.bard.edu
For more information: drivenxdesign.com/NYC18/project.asp?ID=17813
Photo: New Annandale House, home of Bard's Center for Experimental Humanities.
Meta: Subject(s): Division of the Arts | Institutes(s): Center for Experimental Humanities |
Meta: Subject(s): Division of the Arts | Institutes(s): Center for Experimental Humanities |
November 2018
11-30-2018
New Annandale House, the two-story multipurpose media studio that houses the Bard College Center for Experimental Humanities, has won a New York Design Gold Award from DRIVENxDESIGN.
Photo: New Annandale House Credit: Matthew Carbone | MB Architects
Meta: Subject(s): Division of the Arts | Institutes(s): Center for Experimental Humanities |
Meta: Subject(s): Division of the Arts | Institutes(s): Center for Experimental Humanities |
11-22-2018
One of New York City’s most exciting young theater companies, New Saloon, founded by three Bard alumni, returns to Bard with their kaleidoscopic adaptation of Uncle Vanya.
Credit: Photo by Maria Baranova
Meta: Type(s): Alumni,Event | Subject(s): Bardians at Work,Division of the Arts,Theater and Performance Program | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs,Fisher Center |
Meta: Type(s): Alumni,Event | Subject(s): Bardians at Work,Division of the Arts,Theater and Performance Program | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs,Fisher Center |
11-21-2018
The Bard College Conservatory Orchestra performs at the Fisher Center on Saturday, December 1, at 8:00 p.m. with guest conductor Xian Zhang.
Credit: Photo by B. Ealovega
Meta: Type(s): Event | Subject(s): Division of the Arts,Music | Institutes(s): Fisher Center |
Meta: Type(s): Event | Subject(s): Division of the Arts,Music | Institutes(s): Fisher Center |
11-18-2018
Interdisciplinary artist Alisha Wormsley MFA ‘19, whose work is inspired by the collective memory of African American culture, will receive a $15,000 prize with the award.
Credit: Photo by B. Ealovega
Meta: Type(s): Student | Subject(s): Division of the Arts | Institutes(s): MFA |
Meta: Type(s): Student | Subject(s): Division of the Arts | Institutes(s): MFA |
11-17-2018
Eva LeWitt ‘07 talks about studying sculpture with Judy Pfaff at Bard, founding an artists’ residency in Italy, and how art is in her DNA.
Credit: Photo by B. Ealovega
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Bardians at Work,Division of the Arts | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Bardians at Work,Division of the Arts | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
11-17-2018
CCS Bard’s Tom Eccles and Luma Foundation’s Maja Hoffmann pen the introduction for the book accompanying the exhibition presented at the Parc des Ateliers, Luma Arles and at CCS Bard.
Credit: Photo by B. Ealovega
Meta: Type(s): Event | Subject(s): Division of the Arts | Institutes(s): Center for Curatorial Studies |
Meta: Type(s): Event | Subject(s): Division of the Arts | Institutes(s): Center for Curatorial Studies |
11-15-2018
Josephine Sacabo’s solo exhibit in New Orleans, Tagged, responds to the everyday misogyny of graffiti in the streets.
Credit: Photo by B. Ealovega
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Bardians at Work,Division of the Arts | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Bardians at Work,Division of the Arts | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
11-12-2018
Award-winning actress and filmmaker Isabella Rossellini talks about her new theatrical lecture on the science of animal minds. She will perform "Link Link Circus" on November 17 at 7:30 p.m.
Credit: Photo by B. Ealovega
Meta: Type(s): Event | Subject(s): Division of the Arts | Institutes(s): Fisher Center |
Meta: Type(s): Event | Subject(s): Division of the Arts | Institutes(s): Fisher Center |
11-10-2018
TŌN's free concert series will offer two performances led by associate conductor James Bagwell and one led by resident conductor Zachary Schwartzman during the holiday season.
Credit: Photo by B. Ealovega
Meta: Type(s): Event | Subject(s): Division of the Arts,Music | Institutes(s): The Orchestra Now |
Meta: Type(s): Event | Subject(s): Division of the Arts,Music | Institutes(s): The Orchestra Now |
11-09-2018
Joan Tower, Asher B. Edelman Professor in the Arts, talks with the New York Times about her more than 50-year career as a composer and educator, and the milestone of turning 80 this fall.
Credit: Photo by B. Ealovega
Meta: Type(s): Faculty | Subject(s): Division of the Arts | Institutes(s): Bard Conservatory of Music,Bard Undergraduate Programs |
Meta: Type(s): Faculty | Subject(s): Division of the Arts | Institutes(s): Bard Conservatory of Music,Bard Undergraduate Programs |
11-09-2018
Matalon's hire fulfills the museum’s commitment to furthering community outreach through exhibitions and maintaining a feminist perspective in its curatorial practice.
Credit: Photo by B. Ealovega
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Bardians at Work,Division of the Arts | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Bardians at Work,Division of the Arts | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
11-09-2018
When the composer Joan Tower went to Bennington College to study music, her teachers told her she needed to compose something.
“So I wrote a piece,” she recalled recently, laughing, “and it was a disaster from beginning to end. I said, ‘I know I can do better than that.’ So I did that for the next 40 years, trying to create a piece that wasn’t a disaster.”
Read the full article from the New York Times
“So I wrote a piece,” she recalled recently, laughing, “and it was a disaster from beginning to end. I said, ‘I know I can do better than that.’ So I did that for the next 40 years, trying to create a piece that wasn’t a disaster.”
Read the full article from the New York Times
Credit: Photo: Lauren Lancaster for the New York Times
Meta: Type(s): Faculty | Subject(s): Division of the Arts,Music | Institutes(s): Bard Conservatory of Music,Bard Undergraduate Programs |
Meta: Type(s): Faculty | Subject(s): Division of the Arts,Music | Institutes(s): Bard Conservatory of Music,Bard Undergraduate Programs |
11-09-2018
As part of BGC's Agents of Faith exhibition, Adrián Viajero Román built an altar for those who have died crossing the Mexican border or were victims of Hurricane Maria.
Credit: Photo: Lauren Lancaster for the New York Times
Meta: Type(s): Event | Subject(s): Division of the Arts | Institutes(s): Bard Graduate Center |
Meta: Type(s): Event | Subject(s): Division of the Arts | Institutes(s): Bard Graduate Center |
October 2018
10-31-2018
“Creative Process in Dialogue: Art and the Public Today” will be held at BHSEC Manhattan on October 31, followed by a lunch hour talk at Bard at Brooklyn Public Library on November 1.
Meta: Type(s): Event | Subject(s): Division of Languages and Literature,Division of Social Studies,Division of the Arts,Early Colleges | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs,BHSECs,Center for Civic Engagement,Center for Curatorial Studies |
Meta: Type(s): Event | Subject(s): Division of Languages and Literature,Division of Social Studies,Division of the Arts,Early Colleges | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs,BHSECs,Center for Civic Engagement,Center for Curatorial Studies |
10-30-2018
Poet Elizabeth Alexander and Painter Amy Sherald in Conversation
Creative Process in Dialogue: Art and the Public Today with Elizabeth Alexander and Amy SheraldBard High School Early College Manhattan, October 31 at 6:30 p.m.
Lunch Hour Talk with Amy Sherald and Thelma Golden
Bard at Brooklyn Public Library, November 1 at 12:45 p.m.
Watch Live Starting at 6:30 Eastern Time on October 31:
Bard High School Early College Manhattan (BHSEC) hosts a discussion with poet Elizabeth Alexander and painter Amy Sherald about their creative processes and their commitments to the humanities. This public conversation seeks to diversify perspectives on the arts disciplines and to offer models for collective and inclusive community dialogues. The event is free and open to the public. It takes place on Wednesday, October 31, from 6:30pm to 8:00pm at BHSEC on 525 East Houston Street in New York City. Preregistration is required. Register here. A live webcast of the event will also be available.
Poet and president of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Elizabeth Alexander and painter Amy Sherald have both produced works critical to marking and reflecting on recent periods of political and social change in the United States. Alexander wrote and recited the poem “Praise Song for Our Day” to usher forward the presidency of the first black American president, Barack Obama, and Sherald painted the official portrait of the first lady, Michelle Obama, one of two works to mark the end of the Obama Presidency. Moderators BHSEC literature professor Brittney Edmonds and Bard Associate Professor of History Christian Crouch will ask Alexander and Sherald four contextualizing questions around the process of patronage and collecting in the arts, artistic practice and black feminism, how their work speaks across artistic media, and how their work engages with the image of body.
“This event, the first of a series, is inspired by an ongoing dialogue within Bard’s Africana Studies Program surrounding race and diversity and social engagement in the visual and performative arts. We hope to create the opportunity for public dialogue around creative artistic practice and the humanities, and how artists engage their audience and broader community,” says Director of Africana Studies at Bard and Assistant Professor of Africana and Historical Studies Drew Thompson.
This event is cosponsored by Humanities New York, Bard Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard Center for Civic Engagement, Bard Undergraduate Program in Africana Studies, Bard High School Early College, and Bard American Studies Program.
On Thursday, November 1, from 12:45pm to 2:00pm, Amy Sherald will be in conversation with curator Thelma Golden at Bard at Brooklyn Public Library (BPL), the first New York City Microcollege. In this inaugural Bard at BPL Lunch Hour Talk, Golden and Sherald discuss an understated aspect of the creative process: the relationship between curator and artist. Golden, director and chief curator of the Studio Museum in Harlem, has presided over exhibitions in which painter Amy Sherald’s works were included and was involved in the selection of Sherald to paint the portrait of former first lady Michelle Obama for the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery. The event is free and open to the public. It takes place at BPL Central Library, Dweck Center, 10 Grand Army Plaza, Brooklyn. Preregistration is required. Register here.
Meta: Subject(s): Division of Languages and Literature,Division of Social Studies,Division of the Arts | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs,BHSECs,Center for Civic Engagement,Center for Curatorial Studies |
10-23-2018
Art icon and powerhouse DJ Huxtable talks about process, representation, internet culture, and the future of nightlife in New York City.
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Division of the Arts | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Division of the Arts | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
10-23-2018
Castello di Rivoli Director Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev has been named the winner of the 2019 Audrey Irmas Award for Curatorial Excellence, which carries a prize of $25,000.
Meta: Subject(s): Division of the Arts | Institutes(s): Center for Curatorial Studies |
Meta: Subject(s): Division of the Arts | Institutes(s): Center for Curatorial Studies |
10-17-2018
Pioneering jazz composer and pianist Vijay Iyer and Nigerian American writer, photographer, and Bard faculty member Teju Cole present a live collaboration, Blind Spot, on October 26.
Credit: Photo: Vijay Iyer by Barbara Rigon; Teju Cole by C. Anderson
Meta: Type(s): Event | Subject(s): Division of the Arts | Institutes(s): Fisher Center |
Meta: Type(s): Event | Subject(s): Division of the Arts | Institutes(s): Fisher Center |
10-09-2018
In tracing the remarkable work of gallerists Pat Hearn and Colin de Land, the exhibition presents the gallery as a crucial site for the history of art.
Credit: Photo: Vijay Iyer by Barbara Rigon; Teju Cole by C. Anderson
Meta: Type(s): Event | Subject(s): Division of the Arts | Institutes(s): Center for Curatorial Studies |
Meta: Type(s): Event | Subject(s): Division of the Arts | Institutes(s): Center for Curatorial Studies |